Is Star Trek Into Darkness Baddie John Harrison Connected to Khan?

SANTA MONICA, California — Who is John Harrison and why does he hate the Enterprise?

J.J. Abrams unveiled a new Star Trek Into Darkness trailer Monday that points to a huge villainous role for lanky British actor Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). Speaking to Kirk, Cumberbatch intones in a baritone voice from hell, “You’re going to get yourself and everyone under your command killed!”

Cumberbatch’s character is still shrouded in mystery, but has since been named as “John Harrison” in a movie still provided by Paramount. Could Harrison mark the return — in some form — of the title tyrant made famous in 1982’s iconic The Wrath of Khanmovie? One pointer in that direction: a nine-minute prologue shown to reporters on Sunday that revealed Dr. Carol Marcus (played by Alice Eve). Marcus first popped up in The Wrath of Khan, so the revival of her character provides DNA linkage to the Khan saga.

By extension, Cumberbatch’s Harrison character, name notwithstanding, might also bear some kind of connection to Khan, and a Japanese trailer for the movie also added extra footage that revealed two characters placing their hands on opposite sides of a glass wall — a possible reference to an iconic scene between Kirk and Spock in Wrath of Khan. Into Darkness co-writer Damon Lindelof said, “Our intention is to not tell. We feel that the materials speak for themselves. There’s clearly more to him then meets the eye.”

Trying to Keep the Mystery Intact

In addition to the trailer, Abrams and his team previewed new Klingon headgear, freaky Red Forest special effects, demonic weaponry from the new Star Trek movie, but the all-star nerd cluster really hit critical mass at twilight during the rooftop cocktail party at Bad Robot Productions where Star Trek Into Darkness writers Lindelof, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman collectively fended off speculation about Harrison’s true identity. Lindelof, who co-created Lost with Abrams and later co-wrote Ridley Scott;s Prometheus, said “The mystery surrounding that character started the minute that we said we were going to do a sequel to Star Trek: Who’s going to be the bad guy?”

Director Abrams has long championed the element of surprise, as articulated in his “Mystery Box” TED Talk. Lindelof echoed the sentiment. “The idea of opening up the closet and showing the Christmas presents before they were wrapped–I think everybody would be very disappointed. So as frustrating as it is, we’re acting in your best interests!”

From Sherlock Holmes to Mystery Man

Clutching a cheeseburger, Into Darkness co-writer Robert Orci said there were reasons for casting a lesser known actor like Cumberbatch as the heavy. “I liked that some people are not aware of him yet, I think they’re going to be after this movie. It’s always nice to see someone whose work you weren’t familiar with too long before and then suddenly: oh my God he’s so good on Sherlock, and you’re now a fan of that show. So to have Benedict agree to come on and join sort of a preexisting family…and his voice is terrifying. Benedict’s voice is like its very own special effect.”

Orci’s writing partner Alex Kurtzman, who includes Fringe, Transformers and the previous Star Trek on their collective resume, added that Harrison won’t be the only source of friction . Spock and Kirk will also continue to bump heads. “We want to obviously pick up where the last movie left off, but not assume that Kirk and Spock are best friends at that point because they’re not. That was a big part of our challenge: to make sure we came in at the right point where they are still learning how to function as a family.”

Star Trek Trilogy … and Out?

It remains to be seen if John Harrison generates the same level of bad guy mystique as The Dark Knight Rises‘ glowering Bane, but the Trek braintrust sound like they’re in synch with director Chris Nolan’s approach to the Batman trilogy: quit after three. Orci told Wired, “I think in our minds, we always thought that we’d probably start outliving our usefulness after three movies. That’s a nice three- act structure for whatever story you’re telling.”